"And if you SPEND YOURSELVES on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday."

"The Lord will continually guide you. He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."- Isaiah 58:10-11

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Dennis and Daisy - Tragic Loss

It is with deep sorrow that we write this letter to
tell you we lost two of the precious children in the Oasis program.Daisy and Dennis both died within weeks
of each other. Every child at Oasis is special in their own way, and both Daisy
and Dennis had God’s fingerprints all over them.

Daisy’s Story:

Little Daisy was born on June 4th and was welcomed
into the Children’s home with joy.She was a beautiful baby and lived up to her name. (See previous blog for story). When she was only a week old, she contracted pneumonia
and was taken to Tenwek Hospital.After 10 days, she recovered from the pneumonia, but when the doctors
tried to remove her from oxygen, she began to struggle.So, they looked for other health issues
that could be causing this.

An x-ray was performed which revealed that Daisy had
a significantly enlarged heart.This was very concerning.An additional test called an echocardiogram was needed to determine the
exact cause of the heart enlargement.There was also concern that if the condition required surgery there
would not be a doctor available at Tenwek to perform it until October.The doctors were hopeful that Daisy
would recover enough to come home and be able to have surgery in October.

However, over the course of the month, Daisy’s health
continued to decline.So, the
doctors recommended that she be brought to Nairobi for additional testing.On July 11, Daisy went in an ambulance
to Kenyatta National Hospital where an echocardiogram was performed.It was found that she had 3 holes in
her heart in addition to transposition of the great vessels.This meant that her aorta and pulmonary
vessels were switched.This is a
fatal condition that can only be reversed through a complicated, and high-risk
surgery.Unfortunately, there was
not a surgeon in Kenya who could help.

Daisy quickly became weaker and weaker. On Friday,
July 13, 2012, she died in the loving arms of her mother and woke up in the
loving arms of her Heavenly Father.Daisy was buried this week and the mamas placed daisies on her
grave.We all mourn the loss of
this precious flower.

Dennis’ Story:

Oasis found Dennis when he was 14 years old and
recruited him into the Day Program in the Bush at the end of last year.Immediately, we recognized that
we had a special boy on our hands. He was incredibly affectionate and his smile
was charming. He loved to give hugs and wanted to snuggle up next to
anyone who would put their arm around him. He was the kind of kid that melted
your heart in an instant.

However, Dennis was sick.He had epilepsy.Two years ago, while having a seizure, Dennis fell into a fire and
severely burned his leg. Due to lack of good medical care, it was left
untreated and developed significant scarring and infection that affected his
ability to walk.

Many of you knew of Dennis because he was recently
taken to Kijabe Hospital to have surgery to repair his burned leg.In addition he was put on a medication
regimen that helped get his seizures under control. After surgery, Dennis
came to live at the Children’s home on The Hill while he recovered. He
thrived on The Hill. The other children embraced him fully and the mamas
coddled him. He was finally able to walk again. Indeed, hope was
restored to Dennis.

Sadly, on the evening of June 25, Dennis began to
have a massive seizure. It lasted for more than an hour.Afterwards, he never regained
consciousness. He was rushed to the hospital, but there was nothing that
could be done and we lost our precious child.

He was buried a few days later with more than 300
people from The Hill and Bush communities gathered together. It was sad...so,
so sad to say goodbye to one of our children; to watch the family wail and
mourn over their lost brother, nephew, and cousin; to see the other children at
TCH weep over the loss of their friend.

Below is the journal entry one of the Oasis staff
members wrote immediately after hearing Dennis had passed away:

I honestly can't even describe the deep
sadness I feel right now and cannot seem to stop crying for the past few hours
over this loss. We lost a family member today and a boy who had the
deepest joy of the Lord and a smile that could just melt your heart.
Dennis would just beam when he saw us.He gave such intense hugs that he almost caused pain because he squeezed
so tight. He loved life and didn't seem to mind the pain of his epilepsy
or his leg. He was so strong and so inspiring to be around that you could
not help but catch his joy.

When
he was in the hospital, Ann would take him candy and he would share it with
every kid in his room so that they all could be as happy as he was. He
had that special kind of generous, gracious, and wonderful heart.

His life was hard but you would never have known it. I honestly cannot put into words how much I loved this kid, and I'm sure the Smith's can't either. Anyone who met him knew his contagious joy and was blessed by it. He was simply put a beautiful, precious child.

Even
though it is a loss for all of us, he is with our Father now and is healed and
home.I have this incredible image
in my head right now of Dennis playing around in heaven with 2 good legs, no
seizures, and running into God’s arms for a big bear and finally experiencing
Someone who can hug back as tight as he can.

God only knows why this was Dennis and Daisy’s time
to go. Phillipians 3:21 tells us that when we get to heaven, Jesus will
transform our earthly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.
Though Dennis never had the chance to run here on earth, I can assure you
Dennis is running now as he had a strong and vibrant relationship with
Jesus.And though Daisy struggled
with every breath, we know she is enjoying perfect health in heaven. We who
remain have hope because Jesus made it possible to have a relationship with
God.

We have been reminded during this tragedy of how
Oasis is really a family. Everything we do is built around our desire to
engage kids and sponsors in personal and meaningful ways. Although we
prefer to celebrate successes, we also must be prepared to grieve losses
together.

As we left Dennis’s funeral, Wilson, the older
brother and caregiver of Dennis pulled us aside.He had been unable to speak during the funeral because he
was too overcome with emotion.He
requested that we personally thank all of Oasis for stepping in and helping
Dennis. So thank you to all of you who step in and help these precious
children.We are so grateful for
you!